Thursday, September 20, 2012

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for September 21, 2012

Your one-stop-shop for political news and opinion. Please forward to friends who need to be informed. This SitRep (Military for “Situation Report”) is created by many readers who send me items for inclusion, which I would have likely missed or skipped. And I can only spend at most three hours a night pulling stuff, plus the healthcare or economic stuff that crosses my desk at work. As always, I—and you—owe them thanks and appreciation. I post articles because I think they are of interest and will stimulate thought and discussion. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article, or that I was able to verify the information presented, which is the responsibility of the author. I try not to post things that are false, or too far a stretch, regardless of the view point, but I don’t always succeed. As always on the Net, or in the legacy media, you must read critically and with skepticism.

Since I usually recommend non-fiction history, political and economic books, I was going to skip reviewing this novel. First, I’m a little annoyed with Kratman, in that he doesn’t seem to be able to write these things as fast as I can read them. He was an officer, after all, and I expect a little more attention to my edification. Second, I reviewed the first two books in this series, so I’m running out of superlatives. If you read both of those, chances are you will read this one without my recommendation. And while it can stand alone, I recommend you read the series in order. But Kratman does such an entertaining job of describing realistic military violence, and has such a frightening, reality-based world view of how civilization is collapsing as we watch, that I had to put in another plug. In his “Afterword” (which covers ground he talked about in his science fiction novels, but should be read by every American) he says he is asked if he expects things will really get as bad as depicted in these action novels of the near future. His response is that he expects things to get much worse—that the books only depict the early stages of what is happening to our world. I wish I didn’t think he was right. As with his other novels, there are some running gags, one-liners and historical and literary quotes that make the book an especially great value.

Excerpt: Those who talk glibly about redistribution often act as if people are just inert objects that can be placed here and there, like pieces on a chess board, to carry out some grand design. But if human beings have their own responses to government policies, then we cannot blithely assume that government policies will have the effect intended.

The history of the 20th century is full of examples of countries that set out to redistribute wealth and ended up redistributing poverty.

Excerpt: But the administration’s reaction to these events is troubling as well. Its strong condemnation of a video it claims incited the violence, its attempt to censor the video, and its weak defense of freedom of speech — all these actions damage America’s standing as a defender of free speech at home and abroad.

Excerpt: The nation's economic situation continues to fail in some areas and deliver in others. Depending on the observer, the economy may be right where it needs to be or the pace of growth has been abysmal. In any case, the economy in 2012 is what can be considered a mixed-bag economy, says Bruce Yandle, a distinguished adjunct professor of economics at the Capitol Hill Campus program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Overall, the economic outlook is bleak -- the United States and many developed nations are not at pace with where they need to be.

Majority in U.S. Still Say Government Doing Too Much: But fewer Americans now say government has too much power

Excerpt: A majority of Americans (54%) continue to believe the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses, although that is down from the record high of 61% earlier this summer. About four in 10 Americans (39%) say the government should do more to solve the nation's problems. (So why isn’t Romney at 54%? ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Americans strongly believe that there is too much government dependency in the country today. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 64% of Adults think there are too many Americans dependent on the government for financial aid. Just 10% think not enough Americans are dependent on the government, while 16% say the level of dependency is about right. (So why isn’t Romney at 64%? ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Researchers have found using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) that the average government employee works less than private sector employees do. The "underworked" government employee should be of concern to taxpayers who expect private-sector levels of work in the public sector in exchange for private-sector levels of compensation, says Jason Richwine, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation. (I’m sure you are surprised by this! ~Bob.)

The Graveyard of Neo-Conservatism. By Daniel Greenfieldhttp://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-graveyard-of-neo-conservatism.htmlExcerpt: Democracy only works when the character of the people is better than the character of their government. It works very badly when the character of the people is actually worse and the existing system serves much the same purpose as bars in a tiger cage do. The neo-conservatives were unprepared to grapple with such troubling notions.

Excerpt: The chief of Iran’s nuclear program says the power lines to his nuclear facilities were sabotaged. U.S. Special Forces have trained for operations inside Iran for years. Do these latest disclosures suggest they are already on the ground? (I think it was Israel, but I hope it was us. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: It is against the larger backdrop of borrowing and spending well beyond our means that we need to interpret this most recent effort by the Fed to print our way back to prosperity. One way to look at the $40 billion per month in new printing is to compare it to individuals and households. Remember, money only comes into your life through effort, and that’s why it has value and can function as a store of value

Excerpt: Ben Bernanke and Mario Draghi must be absolutely terrified. These two men, in the last two weeks, have both initiated open-ended bond buying programs. The purpose of these programs, aside from keeping insolvent banks in business, was to scare the markets into believing that no matter what happens, the Central Banks will be able to step in and support the financial system.

Pro-choice supporters plan to re-elect Obama on abortion. Carioline May http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/19/pro-choice-group-unveils-detailed-plan-to-sway-obama-defectors-back-to-obama/Excerpt: Their goal: To win over pro-choice female voters who voted for Obama in 2008 but are not planning to vote for him, do not plan to turn out, or are only weakly supporting him in 2012. “If you’ve heard me say it, you’ve heard a thousand other pundits say it over this last year that women are going to make the difference in this election and so the candidate that can persuade and turn out women voters will be the candidate we will call Mr. President,” said NARAL president Nancy Keenan, who added that given the candidates’ stances on reproductive rights, the choice for NARAL and pro-choice women is clearly Obama.

Excerpt: I read several such comments from the rioters in the press last week, and I have a big problem with them. I don’t like to see anyone’s faith insulted, but we need to make two things very clear — more clear than President Obama’s team has made them. One is that an insult — even one as stupid and ugly as the anti-Islam video on YouTube that started all of this — does not entitle people to go out and attack embassies and kill innocent diplomats. (This is a bit repetitive, coming after my comments on how things are different in the Islamic world, but the NY Times columnist is pretty good at his work, and has done a nice job here. What he's pointing out is that much of Islamic society is permeated with extremely strong emotions such as the deep devotion to Mohammed but also a lot of virulent hatred against assorted "others". The hatred can be against infidel foreigners, or non-Muslim neighbors, or other Muslims who see the religion even a bit differently. The culture does not have the kind of basis that Judao-Christian cultures do, for instance business is often seen as a zero sum game, so that your ideal of a good business deal is not that you and the other guy both make money and both are happy; instead, the great business deal is where you take the other guy to the cleaners, and the worse off you leave him, the happier you are. It's one of those situations where you and the Muslim can have a conversation, and both leave thinking they understand what went on, but because the words and ideas really register differently in the minds of each, they actually misunderstand each other badly. Actually, not all the difference is just about Islam, the combination of Islam and Arab culture is a kind of major interaction that winds up with a particularly strong mindset. Non-Arabic Muslims hardly ever practice female "circumcision," nor do they have honor killings as rule. And sad to say, some Arab Christians are as good at hating others as any Arab Muslim. I am sorry to say it, but the chances of really reaching a friendly accommodation with fundamentalist Muslims are slim to none. Their world is so very, very different from a Western, Judao-Christian culture that there's just no common ground worth mentioning. Like the Jewish prisoner and the SS guard, they are too far apart for any kind of mutually satisfying relationship. That does not mean all Muslims, obviously. There is no doubt that plenty of moderate or even secular Muslims exist, who would be perfectly happy to coexist with Westerners, non-Muslims, or just about anybody else. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like many of those in power in the Islamic world belong to that group. And very sad to say, if one of those moderates says or does the wrong thing at the wrong time, they can end up in a bad situation very quickly. We can only hope to find ways to get along, and that in time Islamic societies will retreat from fundamentalism again, as they did in the early part of the 20th century. --Del)

Excerpt: Mitt Romney has been taking a beating for his remarks, taped at a May fundraiser, that 47% of Americans would automatically vote for President Obama because they are "dependent" on government. We could pile on, but instead we can report that we've been leaked pages of draft remarks that Mr. Romney might have delivered on the same subject but curiously didn't.

Excerpt: The Republican Jewish Coalition took their ad about disenchanted Democratic Jews from the computer screen to the small screen Wednesday, as the spot began airing in heavily Jewish communities in key swing states. The ad buy is part of the $5 million media effort the RJC is undertaking to make inroads with Jewish voters in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada.

Excerpt: The controversy over the Obama Administration’s gutting of welfare reform continues to grow. Two new government reports show the move’s illegality and effects on taxpayers. And the House of Representatives is set to vote today to approve or disapprove Health and Human Services’ (HHS) rewriting of the 1996 law. Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a new report saying that in the years since the Clinton-era reform added work requirements to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, five states inquired about waivers of TANF requirements. The report confirms that since welfare reform was enacted, HHS has never before suggested that it had any authority to waive the work requirements. Waiver requests were turned down, in fact.

Excerpt: In August 1967, 74,767,000 Americans were working (according to the Bureau) and 1,152,861 were taking federal disability insurance (according to the Social Security Administration). That means that at that time there were about 65 Americans working for each worker collecting disability. In August 2012, 142,101,000 Americans were working and 8,767,941 were on disability--meaning there were only 16.2 people working for each person collecting disability. (Phony claims will destroy the system for those who really need it. With pulmonary fibrosis and on oxygen, I automatically qualify I’m told. But I can still work full time and am doing so. ~Bob.)

Eric Holder's exoneration by Fast and Furious report strains credibility: Can we believe that information on the disastrous gun-trafficking operation repeatedly reached the AG's office but not the AG? By Jim Geraghty

Excerpt: The initial headlines shouted that the IG report had exonerated Holder. That's one interpretation. But the portrait the report paints of Holder's management is deeply disturbing. Time and again, information and warnings about the operation's enormous risks flow from Arizona to Washington … and suddenly, mysteriously, stop just short of Holder.

Excerpt: Arizona Republican Rep. Ben Quayle told The Daily Caller that Attorney General Eric Holder gave him false testimony under oath about Operation Fast and Furious wiretap application documents during a June 7 House Judiciary Committee hearing. Quayle said the Department of Justice’s inspector general report proves that Holder lied to him while under oath during the hearing.

Excerpt: The Department of Justice’s inspector general released its internal investigation into Operation Fast and Furious on Wednesday afternoon, and senior DOJ official Jason Weinstein resigned as it was released…. “Although the report does not find that DOJ intentionally misled Congress, it does find that the Department could have done a better job responding to requests for information, particularly after determining that the weapons found at the scene at Agent Terry’s murder were linked to the operation. I hope this report provides the Terry family with much-needed answers and that Congress can now turn the page and focus on reforms to help ensure that this never happens again.” (Holder maintains his “innocence.” –Barb)

Excerpt: I know what I have to say will be difficult for Obama sycophants who are unable to sit down without hurting their necks because of where they have stored their heads. Specific to that point, the depth of their intellectual dishonesty and their willingness to dismiss fact in the face of fiction is emblematic of the dissonance that disaffects them.

Excerpt: The man behind the Mohammed movie has been threatened with prison and has become the subject of a media witch-hunt whose sole purpose appears to be disclosing his personal information to his killers. The private and public arms of the Obama administration, its Department of Justice and its media spin corps, are acting to intimidate and punish anyone who dares offend the international Islamist theocracy. (I’m surprised some “artist” hasn’t sought funding from the NEA for “Piss Mohammad.” They funded “Piss Christ” with your tax dollars and I recall condemnation, but not violence. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Klayman alleges leaders of both major U.S. political parties “line their pockets from big oil interests and are just sitting back and not doing anything.” He also noted the federal government is not allowing the U.S. to increase its own oil production, and Barack Obama’s policies have discouraged oil discovery and drilling. “This has led to more speculation on oil prices, causing them to rise. (If Iran closes the Gulf, OPEC shuts down, what happens in the US, since the “accident” in the Gulf with BP and the dictated shut down of much of US production (in contempt of court orders) and denial of Canadian pipeline. Regulations from EPA put several more coal and gas companies out of business, more workers fired…. Anyone thinking ahead? This is leading forward to……Barb)

Excerpt: The administration’s response to the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi fractured on Wednesday. During a morning hearing on Capitol Hill, Matt Olsen, the director of the multi-agency National Counterterrorism Center, said the ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed by a jihadi group.…..“We are looking at indications that individuals involved in the attack may have had connections to al-Qaida or al-Qaida’s affiliates; in particular, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb,” said Olson, according to a report in Foreign Policy magazine.

Excerpt: Several targets of a collaborative relationship between Justice Department Office of Public Affairs director Tracy Schmaler and the liberal message group Media Matters for America told The Daily Caller that Schmaler’s conduct is grounds for her resignation, or for the termination of her employment. And members of Congress have told TheDC that Media Matters’ enviable tax-exempt status may be in jeopardy as a result of that collusion.

Excerpt: “But I look at it this way — if we all step back, this really isn’t an election between two men,” he said. “This is an election between two ideas. One is the American dream and one is a massive welfare stare — a welfare state that is expanding and collapsing at the same time.” Hannity asked Levin if the point of no return has come if Obama wins in November, to which Levin said it probably is since every other branch of government isn’t living up to its implied duties. (Unfortunately, I agree. Romney may only delay the collapse, but that is worth doing. ~Bob.)

David Norcross, chairman of the Republican National Lawyers Association, criticized the results of the study in a recent press release. The organization listed several problems with the study, including a slanted and narrow definition of voter fraud as simply “voter impersonation.”“News21′s articles are biased and error-ridden,” said Norcross. “They analyzed data they admit was incomplete in a results-driven manner borrowed from radical liberal activists who have a record of distorting statistics.”

Excerpt: Michigan Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said Tuesday that an estimated 4,000 non-citizens are registered to vote in her state. Her announcement came a day after voting rights advocates and labor unions sued her in federal court Monday over the question of whether she can legally require voters to affirm their U.S. citizenship at their polling places….Johnson’s revelation Tuesday, however, demonstrated that thousands have been deemed eligible to vote despite being citizens of other countries. (Gee, early voting starting already…Barb)

Excerpt: Breitbart News editor Joel Pollak told The Daily Caller that he thinks Attorney General Eric Holder should resign over, among other things, the Department of Justice’s collusion with left-wing advocacy group Media Matters to discredit him. Emails TheDC obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and published Tuesday show DOJ Office of Public Affairs director Tracy Schmaler, Holder’s top press defender, and Media Matters staffers working together to attack reporters covering DOJ scandals.

Excerpt: The United States had advance warning of the attack and only sent Marines in to secure the facility after it had been blown up and after the American Ambassador had been dragged through the street dead. Otherwise, the Consulate was guarded by locals. We also are now pretty certain there was no riot in Libya, just an attack. The Administration’s whole story around what happened and what they knew is now collapsing.

Excerpt: "Let us stab them in their economy." Watch for it. Meanwhile, note the open hatred of and incitement against Jews and Christians. But no one will take any note of this, or call for any restrictions upon the speech of hate-filled imams in mosques. No, the problem is not this imam, it is movies about Muhammad and cartoons mocking him!

Excerpt: The Obama administration promptly labeled Qumu an “ally of sorts,” according to the New York Times–that despite the fact that as of 2005, he was known as a “medium to high risk … likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies.” What made him an ally? According to the Times, that status change was due to the Obama administration’s “remarkable turnabout resulting from shifting American policies rather than any obvious change in Mr. Qumu.”

Excerpt: The newest reports are even more shocking than older ones. According to Anderson Cooper 360 this evening, American ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens “said he was on #alQaeda hit list #Libya, according to source.” If that’s true, clearly the State Department had advance warning not only that the Libyan consulate was in danger, but that Stevens himself was personally targeted.

Excerpt: While our president parties with Jay-Z and David Letterman; while our State Department blames a movie for four murders in Libya; while our Embassy in Cairo doubles down on an apology to the terrorists who attacked it; while Obama farms out embassy security to private security firms in Britain; while we refuse to point to our enemy and call it by name; while Obama treats the atrocities in Egypt and Libya as crime scenes instead of terrorist attacks -- the message this White House is sending out to the world is that, if you target American ambassadors, the repercussions might be a strongly worded statement. How else to explain yet another brazen attack on an American ambassador:

Excerpt: Under Obama, 14.7 million more Americans began using the food-stamp program than had been using it under Bush. That’s a whopping increase of 46%, from 31.9 million users in 2009 to 46.6 million today. …Under eight years of George Bush, annual spending on food stamps rose from $15 billion to $35 billion — an increase of about $2.5 billion per year. But in just the first two years of the Obama administration alone, spending rose from $35 billion to $75 billion — a staggering increase of $20 billion per year, nearly ten times the rate of increase in cost under Bush. (Per “Admit the Horse”: “Provide greater services to the poor (initially), but actual intention to dismantle those services (by overloading them) to cause revolt….(collapse) and create socialist state.” But those wearing the “Once you’ve gone black you don’t go back” buttons are not considered intelligent enough to think this far ahead…. They will follow suggestions, do as they are told for any “reward.” Oh yes, the regime’s economic plan is working. That is why there is no need to have a budget or meet with any committees about one. Keep the public mad at Congress and gridlock…easier to replace it all when more flexible. –Barb.)

Excerpt: Or rather, “The states, they are I” since he has replaced the stars that represent the states with his own logo. …. It places Obama the man superior to the 50 sovereign states and to the nation’s history of fighting for and winning freedom throughout the world…. Pledge fealty to a man, not the nation. This is how dictatorships start. (Just as they replaced the donkey with the “O” at the DNC convention. –Barb.)

Did Obama Violate U.S. Code Mutilating The Flag With His Own Ego? By John Nolte

Excerpt: For thirty-five dollars you can own this print. The Barack Obama Store advertises the print as "Our Stripes: Flag Print," and in place of the stars representing our fifty states we have the Obama logo -- which, I guess, is supposed to represent the United States of President Failure Teleprompter. (Disrespectful, egotistical and tasteless, at least to patriots, but a stretch to say illegal, I think. Lots of stylized versions of the flag around. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Among other things, Obama has turned his back on America’s longstanding commitment to energy security in the Persian Gulf. If Iran has nuclear weapons, it can close the Straits of Hormuz at will, and bring the other Gulf states to their knees (unless, of course, they get their own nuclear weapons — which is not especially comforting for energy security, either). That is why Russia, the world’s largest hydrocarbon producer, has the undivided attention of the Europeans and the Japanese: if they can’t rely on the Persian Gulf, the have no choice but to do more business with Moscow.

Excerpt: Despite the fact that he presided over an operation that resulted in hundreds of deaths and made Mexico’s drug war even more violent, Eric Holder still has his job…. Secretary Sebelius gets to keep her job…. Rice, and Clinton, still have their jobs…. In order to find his lieutenants incompetent and worthy of firing, President Obama would first have to be competent himself. (If he fired people, it would suggest he had made a mistake hiring them, and The One cannot make a mistake. ~Bob.)

The Leftist Leviathan. David Horowitz and Jacob Laksin expose the new reality of American politics. By Janice Fiamengo

Excerpt: The aim of this network, as the authors show with many examples, is not only to influence elections through indirect means such as Media Matters, which continuously campaigns against conservative ideas, but also to transform the fabric of American society through education initiatives, community organizing projects, lawsuits, harassment campaigns, and tireless attacks on conservative figures. Its over-riding purpose, following the Marcusean strategy of revolution by stealth, is to move radical ideas “from the political margins to the political mainstream” until they become official Democratic policy as well as an accepted part of public debate.

Excerpt: Has the world turned into a giant promo for Dinesh D’Souza’s film 2016: Obama’s America? I would assume so since the events of the last week or so appear almost constructed to prove the key point of his movie — that Barack Obama’s foreign policy, indeed his basic value system, is motivated by a rehash of 1960s-1970s era anti-colonialism with the USA as perpetual bogeyman….In D’Souza’s conception, that’s the core of Obama’s being. And it’s beginning to look as if the author and now filmmaker is right.

Excerpt: Blue Mountain Group was not identified as the vendor in that summary of the contract. Instead, the vendor was listed under the vague term "Miscellaneous Foreign Awardee." Incredibly, the vendor contact address on the contract -- 1275 First Street, NE, Washington, D.C. is not the office of Blue Mountain Group, but is instead the office of the Regulatory Secretariat Division of the General Services Administration of the federal government.

Excerpt: Following the killing of Osama bin Laden, Obama sold his “gutsy warrior” image in part for re-election purposes, in part to convey the battle is over. This approach, however, allows Obama, Clinton, and their press to ignore the more potent levels of threat we face: that of the civilization jihad (led by the Muslim Brotherhood to infiltrate all levels of our government and society until enough power is obtained to transform the U.S. from the inside and establish Shariah law) and the international institutional jihad (led primarily by the largest Islamic organization, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to force similar changes from without). … Given this distinction, along with Obama’s deep saturation with Muslim Brotherhood associates and associated entities as well as Clinton’s collusive actions in furtherance of Brotherhood and OIC goals, our choice this November could not be clearer.

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"If you are unwilling to defend your right to your own lives, then you are merely like mice trying to argue with owls. You think their ways are wrong. They think you are dinner." --Terry Goodkind

Excerpt: Welfare reform was very popular with the public. However, in July 2012, the Obama Administration issued a bureaucratic edict proposing to overturn the work requirements that formed the core of the 1996 law. This action by the Obama Administration clearly violated the intent and letter of the legislation…..

Excerpt: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force terrorists and their proxies are behind recent attacks on U.S. officials and may soon try to strike in the United States, counterterrorist officials in the Obama administration told a Senate committee Wednesday. Testimony at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing so far has largely been ignored by mainstream media and was reported only by the conservative Washington Times. “We have seen an uptick in operational activity by the Quds Force over the last year or so,” National Counter-Terrorism Center Director Matthew G. Olsen said at the hearing, adding that the elite military cell, “poses a threat beyond the immediate [Middle East] region” as well as U.S. territory.

Excerpt: The demonstrations are expected to grow in Pakistan on Friday, the traditional day of prayer in the Muslim world. The Pakistani government has called a national holiday for Friday so that people could come out and demonstrate peacefully against the film. That decision drew rare words of praise from the Pakistani Taliban, which is usually at war with the government.

Excerpt: "Three U.S. delegation members that stayed at the Hilton brought prostitutes back as overnight guests. One of them was ours (Secret Service) and the other two were White House staffers," a high-ranking Secret Service official told FoxNews.com. "We knew very early that White House staffers were involved." The initial report is more than two months overdue, fueling speculation that it is being withheld--or possibly altered--to protect Obama administration staff.

Excerpt: The House Ethics Committee will hold a public hearing Friday on ethics allegations against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). The panel has been investigating for the past three years whether Waters violated House rules by attempting to secure federal help during the financial crisis for a bank in which her husband owns stock. (Expect the race card to be played. Always is. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: First lady Michelle Obama told the Democratic National Convention that "Barack and I were both raised by families who didn't have much in the way of money or material possessions." It is a claim the president has repeated in his books, on the speech-making circuit and in countless media interviews. By his account, he grew up in a broken home with a single mom, struggled for years as a child in an impoverished Third World country and then was raised by his grandparents in difficult circumstances. The facts aren't nearly so clear-cut.

The two SEALs who died in Libya trying to save the Ambassador? Wasn’t their assignment.

Excerpt: The two ex-Seals and others engaged in a lengthy firefight with the extremists who attacked the compound, a fight that stretched from the inner area of the consulate to an outside annex and a nearby safe house — a location that the insurgents appeared to know about, the officials said. The officials provided the information to the Washington Guardian, saying they feared the Obama administration’s scant description of the episode left a misimpression that the two ex-Navy SEALs might have been responsible for the ambassador’s personal safety or become separated from him. “Woods and Doherty weren’t part of the detail, nor were they personally responsible for the ambassador’s security, but they stepped into the breach when the attacks occurred and their actions saved others lives — and they shouldn’t be lumped in with the security detail,” one senior official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the State Department.

Excerpt: As an Egyptian, the most fascinating aspect of all of this has to be our effect on the American elections, and how we suddenly became an important campaign issue in the snoozefest that is Obama vs. Romney. Isn’t it crazy that Obama — he of the message of peace and understanding with the Muslim world — must now contend with Islamist rage fueled by those whom he — and a million thinkers, analysts, and pundits – has referred to as a moderate Islamic group, the Muslim Brotherhood. That’s the same moderate Islamic group whose people met with his people more than 14 times this past year and a half, who convinced them that America should support them because Salafis and liberals are unpredictable and unreliable, and because the Brothers alone can bring peace to the region……

Excerpt: Mitt Romney may not have made an elegant argument back in May about the differences between redistributionary economic and regulatory policies and free-market approaches, and the willingness of the electorate to hear it. However, his effort to keep pressing that debate while his opponent tries to evade it shows that Romney has the better argument – and elegant or not, the outcomes make this debate absolutely critical to our nation’s future.

Excerpt: Facebook is taking its campaign to boost organ donations to Canada and Mexico this week, four months after its premiere. The feature allows Facebook users to tell their friends and family that they're registered organ donors. It also directs people who aren't signed up as organ donors to the official registries where they live. (Sign up—if you buy the farm, I might need your lungs! ~Bob.)

Poor Smokers in New York State Spend 25% of Income on Cigarettes, Study Finds

So much for BO’s pledge that no one making under $250k would pay a dime’s more in taxes on his watch. ~Bob. Excerpt: Low-income smokers in New York spend 25 percent of their income on cigarettes, according to a new study, which led advocates for smokers’ rights to say it proved high taxes were regressive and ineffective.

Excerpt: Medicaid has shelled out billions in overpayments to certain healthcare facilities in New York, according to a report from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. (Spreading the wealth around. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: I would offer Americans an even lower flat tax rate--14% as opposed to 17%--and at the same time do more to help low-income people. Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff and I have put together a plan that works in the following way.

PAT CONDELL on the Islamomaniacal Muslims doing what they do best – whining, rioting, and killing!!

Excerpt: Since this IRS rule also unlawfully taxes 250,000 Oklahomans under the individual mandate — a tax that in 2016 will reach $2,085 for a family of four earning $24,000 — the attorney general has an awful lot of individual Oklahomans that he could add to its plaintiff roster. (Guess that’s their “Fair Share.” ~Bob.)

Excerpt: The Dane County Board of Supervisors votes at 7 p.m. tonight on a resolution that would extend contracts with the county’s unions, a move board member Dave Wiganowsky estimates will cost the county at least $2 million. He said he doesn’t know the total amount – there was no fiscal note attached to the resolution obtained by Wisconsin Reporter.

Excerpt: Eight House committee leaders have written to Obama administration officials asking about reports the administration is considering an Egyptian request to release blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman from prison. "If these reports are true, such considerations would be extremely disconcerting as release of this convicted terrorist should not happen for any reason," the letter from U.S. Reps. Lamar Smith, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., Mike Rogers, R-Mich., Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., Peter King, R-N.Y., Hal Rogers, R-Ky. , Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Kay Granger, R-Tex., said. Each chairs a significant House committee. (BO is not above denying it, then going forward after the election. ~Bob.)

Despite Being President For The Past Four Years, Obama Says You Can’t Change Washington From The Inside